SoftBank Group's Vision Fund plans to lay off nearly 20% of its over 300 global employees as it shifts away from broad startup investments in favor of bold artificial intelligence (AI) ventures led by founder Masayoshi Son. This restructuring supports Son’s aggressive AI strategy, including investments in foundational models and infrastructure, such as the $500 billion U.S.-based Stargate data center project in collaboration with OpenAI. In the past year, Vision Fund 2 has invested $9.7 billion into AI initiatives, including substantial stakes in chip-related companies like Arm, Graphcore, Ampere, Intel, and Nvidia. This high-risk, capital-intensive shift signals a departure from Vision Fund's former venture capital model and aims to create a vertically integrated AI ecosystem.